"Air dam" fell off while driving...
 

So my 91 camaro has a tendency to scrape my driveway from time to time, depending if i approach straightforward or at an angle...

Anyways, January 15, I was going down a street when all of a sudden I hear a *THUD* *scrrrrrrrrrrr....scraping*
so I pull over and see some cover scraping the street, looking like it wanted to fly away from the car and the street going opposite directions. Luckily I pulled into a mechanic to pay 15$ to remove it out

He says "its the air dam, it's fallen off..completely ripping out the bolts to the bumper ...it's that thing that prevents turbulence under the car"

So what is this thing that has fallen off my car?
How am I going to reattach this?

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/1...070997s.th.jpg

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9...070992t.th.jpg

Re: "Air dam" fell off while driving...
 

First of....That is no mechanic.

"Prevents turbulence" :roflmao: That's a good one.

Come summertime, if not sooner (and it probably will) it WILL overheat.

That air dam is exactly that. A dam that directs air up, but through your radiator. Go get your $15 back, get it back if he kept it & educate the guy.

He did a bad thing, by taking it off & not reattaching it.

Re: "Air dam" fell off while driving...
 

Nothing about turbulence, it directs air to the radiator while the car is moving to keep the car from overheating.

Re: "Air dam" fell off while driving...
 

Turbulence, thats a good one!

The bolts just go through a hole in the sheet metal. Vibration and the fact that they hit going over bumps makes a hard life for them.

A while back when I had my car in the air I noticed mine was loose and missing a bolt or two. I used some of the large washer boldy type bolts and also put nuts with built in washers on them as well. Its kind of hard to squeeze your fingers under the AC condensor to get the nuts on but so far the deflector has stayed on tight.

I thought about a spring and hinge set up but never got around to it. I have also seen on a Saturn, if I remember right, their deflectors are attached to the body by springs so the deflector will give way on bumps and such and go back into place.

Re: "Air dam" fell off while driving...
 

So how do I put it back in? is it as simple as rebolting it on myself? or do I need to go to a mechanic to reattach it.

And since it apparently "fell off" itself, is there something I need to replace to keep it still?

Re: "Air dam" fell off while driving...
 

If the screws simply fell out....Get new screws.

If the air dam got ripped somehow & the screws pulled through? Need to fix the screw holes & air dam itself.

Re: "Air dam" fell off while driving...
 

If it is ripped beyond repair? Look for used one at a junkyard, here on TGO, or.....
http://moderndaymuscle.com/inc/sdetail/793